OPUS Mag

Jun 13 The Untapped Potential of Marlon Wayans

As we all know, the Wayans took spoof movies to another level at one point, from I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, Don't Be a Menace to Scary Movie 1 & 2, and Keenan Ivory Wayans was the mastermind of it all and he's a certified legend for that. However, let's talk about one in particular by the name of Marlon.

We first saw Marlon introduced to us in Mo Money alongside his brother Damon Wayans, and the more I go back and watch Mo Money, for his first starring role Marlon held his own, he was funny and serious. After appearing on various episodes of the classic variety/sketch comedy TV series In Living Color, Marlon was a co-star in Above The Rim, he was running with a basketball street crew with legends like 2pac and Wood Harris while being friends with Duane Martin. Above The Rim is classic and one of the best sports movies ever made, I would put it in the top 5 basketball films, Marlon's role was just about the same as it was in Mo Money except he was a little bit more on the comedic side til shit got serious and he got fed up with 2pac's shit at the end then shot and killed him in his own club.

After Above The Rim, Marlon and his brother Shawn created and starred in The Wayans Bros tv show, I dont care man, I liked the Wayans Bros, they had some funny episodes and for them to stay on with 5 seasons for 4 years was good for them but season 5 needed a better finale episode; it just ended with a episode with Roy Jones Jr in it. When the tv show ends, another classic by the name of Don't Be A Menace happens, that movie is still wild soon as you turn it on, The 6th Man and Senseless also adds to Marlon's filmography, The 6th Man was underrated to me, this showed Marlon at a series tone when his brother (played by Kadeem Hardison) dies on the basketball court of a heart attack. 6th Man rarely comes on tv anymore and if it does it'll be airing on Showtime. Requiem For a Dream was Marlon's most darkest role to date, the films depicts on 4 different type of drug addictions from the characters, if you haven't seen this movie, please do watch it, it's unreal.

This is what makes Marlon have some sort of range in Hollywood and the potential he could live up to, we know about the classics Scary Movie 1 & 2, Dungeons and Dragons, and the Ladykillers which was a different role and I kind of liked the movie, we know about the rest of the spoof films Marlon has did throughout the years like A Haunted House and 50 Shades Of Black. As the 2nd most talented in the Wayans he should definitely take on some serious roles in the future, for example, picture Marlon in an Quentin Tarantino film, Tarantino sometimes goes "outside the box" with his casting, remember Chris Tucker in Jackie Brown? He was only in the film for 5 minutes but he was one of the highlights, and that was Tucker in serious mode other than what we seen from him in Friday and Money Talks at that time. There's no question Marlon can pull something like that off. There's video footage on YouTube of him auditioning for the Richard Pryor biopic, he can do action as we seen him in G.I. Joe and drama like The 6th Man, his tv show titled Marlon airing real soon on NBC is going to be interesting to watch. It looks like My Wife and Kids but I'm going to check it out.

Marlon has plenty of time left to expand his range in Hollywood, why not? He clearly has the talent to write, produce and direct any film he gets the chance to. Also, there's nothing wrong with the comedic route; you see Damon Wayans is progressing very well with the Lethal Weapon show, but it's time for Marlon to get more exposure and creative on the big screen. Marlon knows it and us film fans know it too, we'll see what he has in store next.

Mychael Davis is a writer coming out of Ohio who is here to talk entertainment; mostly film. Occasionally he will touch on sports mixed with a little bit of jokes on the side. When he's not working and has free time, Mychael passes time watching & playing basketball, training for boxing but his true passion is writing. He frequently watches TV/movies, studying key elements from film, coming up with new ideas, concept stories, and constantly writing hoping to create for future projects. With a weird yet extraordinary combination of inspiration from music artists and Hollywood like Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Michael Jackson to Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Martin Scorsese and more, it's obvious Mychael will not settle for good and will surpass great.

Mychael Davis is a writer coming out of Ohio who is here to talk entertainment; mostly film. Occasionally he will touch on sports mixed with a little bit of jokes on the side. When he's not working and has free time, Mychael passes time watching & playing basketball, training for boxing but his true passion is writing. He frequently watches TV/movies, studying key elements from film, coming up with new ideas, concept stories, and constantly writing hoping to create for future projects. With a weird yet extraordinary combination of inspiration from music artists and Hollywood like Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Michael Jackson to Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Martin Scorsese and more, it's obvious Mychael will not settle for good and will surpass great.

Coeur Noir is an autofiction novel written by Al Patron. The title is Haitian Creole for black heart or heart of black, in reference to the traits of the main protagonist, Nikolas Daniel...who may or may not be based on Al Patron himself. A coming of age novel Coeur Noir will evoke emotional reactions ranging from but not limited to crying & laughter, all while detailing a path to greatness for Al Pa...pardon...Nikolas Daniel.